by Jo Leigh
The list went on in her head as she did a quick makeup-and-hair check, then she was racing down the stairs. As she turned the corner on the first floor, she bumped into the console table on her way to the coatrack. A file folder fell, spreading a stack of brochures all across the wood floor.
Cursing under her breath, Shannon crouched down and picked up several. They weren’t brochures the plant had printed, but rather all about various locales in Florida—Tampa, Orlando, Miami. The file folder wasn’t marked, but there was a phone number in the corner written in her mother’s hand.
Shannon hadn’t realized her folks were thinking about taking a vacation. She should tell them about Bali. It would be good for them to get away. They never went far. They hardly ever took time off at all. An occasional trip to Atlantic City. A weekend at the beach. Good for them for thinking about Florida.
She finished putting everything back, wondering about the brochure for a senior community. She went to open it, noticed the time and shoved everything inside the folder. Then she was off like a shot.
* * *
THE SECOND AFTER NATE disconnected with Aiko, he pressed Shannon’s speed dial.
“Nate.”
“Are you at the plant?”
“Yep. Not for long, though. What’s up?”
“I’ll come get you, and we can go to the park together.”
“Okay,” she said, and he could hear the smile in the single word. “Give me ten minutes.”
“’Bye.”
He put his cell in his pocket and raised his arm out to catch a cab. He hit pay dirt a few minutes later and gave the driver the address. It was a short ride from Murray Hill, where he’d been with his accountant since their lunch meeting at noon. The negotiations on the firm were moving at a snail’s pace, which wasn’t shocking considering the kind of money they were dealing with.
He hated all this crap, but the whole reason he’d come to New York was to get his financial life squared away. He needed enough in his coffers to live without the burden of a traditional job or family. He loved his work, but if he got burned out, which happened with great frequency on the front lines, he wanted to be able to stand on his own. To have insurance, to be able to live where he wanted. He also needed to make sure he was building a future. Maybe someday he’d find someone who fit, who he’d want to settle down with.
Of course he thought of Shannon, but by the time he’d be ready to give up his life, she’d be taken. He was pretty damn stunned she wasn’t taken already.
Children weren’t in the plans, although, if he thought he could have a couple of girls with that fantastic red hair… He shook his head. He hadn’t wanted children ever, but he did care about a safe retirement. So if it took the lawyers and the moneymen time to work out the deal, so be it.
He was very grateful that his parents had always been smart with money. His mother was set, as was his sister, Leah. The purchase of a co-op apartment had been his accountant’s idea, and so far, she’d been an excellent combination of conservative and sufficiently forward-thinking to take reasonable risks.
Shannon would be in good shape, too. In the end. Financially. How she’d be emotionally was a huge unknown. The only thing he knew for sure was that she wouldn’t be settled into her new way of life by the middle of May when he had to leave.
The cab turned onto 10th Avenue. He paid the driver, then went inside the building. Shannon was in her office, searching through a stack of papers. She looked up at him and how glad she was to see him was a jolt of adrenaline.
He shut the door. He hadn’t seen her since the kitchen. She looked beautiful, as always, but today she’d put her hair up in a smooth ponytail. There should have been another name for the hairstyle because on her it was sleek, elegant and sophisticated. There weren’t many women who could carry off that look, but Shannon did.
“Did you hear?”
He blinked at her, trying to figure out— “Oh, yeah. They accepted the offer. Two weeks from Friday on the escrow. The sellers are eager, therefore accommodating.”
She dropped the stack in her hands onto her desk and came to him, her long orange-red ponytail swinging behind her as she walked. Her arms went around him in a tight hug, and it was all he could do not to kiss the daylights out of her. But he didn’t know where her dad or Brady were, so…
“I’m thrilled. It won’t give you much time to furnish the rest of the— They did agree to include the furniture?”
“Actually, no. It didn’t belong to them. So I have to shop from the ground up.” The delight on her face made him laugh. “And yes, I’d be very pleased if you could help me with that.”
“I’ve always wanted to do an entire house. This is the best, this is…I can’t even start to think about it until next week.”
“It’ll wait. But we can go back to take measurements, if that helps.”
“Yes, yes, of course, it does. What about finding people to sublet? I never asked, did you have someone in mind?”
“Nope, the management company will take care of that.”
She kissed him, but only on the chin. Then she stepped back. “We should go. I need to catch the light for the pictures I’m taking. I’m doing a before-and-after of the space for an event bible. So that if I’m not able to coordinate things for any reason, someone can just pick up the book and carry on.”
“You are a very smart cookie, have I mentioned that lately?”
“Not nearly often enough, if you ask me.”
He nodded. “Noted. You have to do anything, tell anyone before we go?”
“Nope. We’re clear.”
“You mind if we cab it to 16th and walk the rest of the way?”
“No. Why?”
“I’ve been in an office or a cab all day. If you’re tired, though, it’s no big deal.”
“I’d love to. My day’s been chock-full of stress. A walk will do me good. It’s been ages since I’ve been to the gym.”
“You don’t need a gym,” he murmured. “I’ll give you a workout.”
Shaking her head in mock disapproval, she led him out to the street, and they walked to 9th Avenue, where they caught a taxi. He held her hand on the ride to West 16th, but they were both quiet—the good kind. They kept sneaking glances at each other, which was silly, but okay, too. He was thirty-two and this thing with Shannon felt like a high-school romance. All the sneaking around. Her parents on the top floor. He didn’t mind, although if he had been planning to stay in New York, they would have ended the game by now.
He didn’t think her parents would object to him in the long run, but they’d need adjustment time. So would Danny, when it came down to that.
“What’s that look?”
He had her hand in his, and they set an easy pace, which made quite a few people tsk at them as if they were tourists. “Trying to imagine what Danny would say if he knew we were together. In the biblical sense.”
She gave him a startled look, and he realized that might not have been the right word to use. “He’d have a heart attack, then he’d want you to get your head examined.”
“Sounds about right. Although big brothers are supposed to be kind of stupid about their little sisters from what I’ve heard.”
“Mine fit the bill. I’ll keel over myself the day they stop calling me Princess.”
“It took me a while to realize how very grown-up you are.”
“You’d been gone for years. The last memory you had of me was at thirteen. They were here. They were at my graduation. I was a Phi Beta Kappa. That should count for something.”
“Why didn’t I know that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I thought Mom let everyone on earth know, but if you’d only been talking to Danny it wasn’t the World Series or the Stanley Cup finals, so it wasn’t important.”
Slipping his arm around the back of her shoulders, he pulled her close. “He can be an idiot, that’s for sure. But congratulations. That’s an incredible achievement.”
“Thank yo
u.”
They walked past an empty lot overgrown with weeds, an old dilapidated fence with a fading Keep Out sign doing nothing to prevent a group of tattooed and pierced kids from squatting on junk furniture and makeshift seats. A sight endemic to all big cities, as much a part of New York as the skyline, but it still bothered Nate. Danny accused him regularly of being a bleeding-heart hippie, and Nate had a hard time disagreeing.
“You should bring your IRC crew out here,” Shannon said. “Let them take a whack at Manhattan, see what they could do to rebuild and renew.”
“The IRC does work out here, but the mandate is different. We help refugees get on their feet, find work and safety.”
“That’s good,” she said. “Important.”
He stared as they kept on walking, then turned back to Shannon. “You should seriously consider running for city council.”
“In my copious free time?”
“You could do so much good. You’re brilliant at organizing, at galvanizing. The Easter thing is a perfect example. I know without a doubt that it’s going to bring in tons of money for the homeless, that everyone involved is going to come away from the event happy and that you won’t get nearly enough credit for all you’ve done. See? You’re practically a full-fledged council member already.”
She squeezed him closer, her hand around his waist. “I’ve got enough on my plate,” she said. “Let me get a few more deep-pocket clients for the plant, then I can relax a little.”
He nodded, even as he called himself every kind of coward. But he wasn’t going to bring up the family business until after her TV interview. He wouldn’t do that to anyone, let alone someone he cared so much about.
They kept walking, slowly, as close as they could be without tripping. “I missed you last night,” Shannon said.
“We agreed.”
Shannon sighed. “In retrospect, it would have been better if you’d come.”
“Tonight, then?”
She nodded, then rested her cheek on his shoulder. “I can’t guarantee sexy times. Would that bother you?”
“I’d take sleeping next to you over anything else, hands down. Although I won’t be upset if sexy times occur.”
They were at the last intersection before the park, and she tugged him around so they faced each other. “This won’t take long. The only shots I need are of one area, where the tables and booths will be set up. Then, maybe we could grab a quick dinner. When I get home, I want to go over my bullet list for the interview, get my clothes ready. Nothing very exciting. I plan to be in bed by ten.”
He kissed her, a quickie, as there were people in every direction, some very close. “I’ll meet you there. Now, if you point me in the right direction, I’ll take pictures, too. Anything you need.”
She kissed him back, and despite the pedestrians and the traffic, she put her cool palm on the back of his neck to hold him steady as she slipped her tongue between his lips.
* * *
SHE’D JUST HUNG UP THE LAST of her clothes, the outfit for tomorrow night covered in a dry-cleaner bag. She’d wear the same shoes as she did for work, but her accessories were in a velvet bag in her purse.
It was so much like the old days when she’d lived for being on center stage. The real princess stage of her life had been the pageants, which were only slightly embarrassing. By the time she’d reached her teens she had given up her quest for tiaras and gone after the applause of strangers. She’d been in many school plays, right through her first year of college. She’d have continued for the pure joy of it, but by then she’d accepted that she would join the family business, and she’d focused on her studies.
It was ten o’clock and she needed to get ready for bed. For Nate. As exciting as the interview was, as pressing as the needs of the printing plant were, she’d found herself thinking about Bali or Africa or wherever Nate was going to be. Now that she knew her parents were going to take some time off, she felt less guilty about wanting some for herself.
For ten minutes this afternoon, she’d looked at pictures of Bali. The internet was a wonderful thing, bringing the world to her in her little office. But for once she wanted to go to the world. Despite her best intentions she hadn’t been able to stop her traitorous practical mind from taking her to the end of the line. She wished she hadn’t seen that picture of him in Sumatra. Before, she’d had vague images in her head about where he lived and worked. Now she couldn’t pretend he was anything but temporary, and rightly so.
He was a great man doing great work. A real-life hero. Even in her daydreams she couldn’t compete with that. No wonder he thought of her in terms of doing bigger things, like running for city council. Because that’s where he lived, in a world where he had a direct impact on the lives of hundreds if not thousands. She had her family and forty-seven employees to take care of. No contest.
She went down the hall to the bathroom, took off her robe and pinned up her hair before she stepped under the shower. The heat and pressure of the water felt incredible, and for a long while she dipped her head, closed her eyes and let her body relax. Tensions had been so high at the office lately that she felt as if it were more of a war zone than a business.
Every effort she made toward easing the stress—bringing doughnuts, making fresh pots of coffee whenever she was there, saying hello, attempting to talk the way they all used to—was met with indifference if she were lucky, barely suppressed antagonism when she wasn’t.
Daphne had literally run away from her yesterday. Run, as if to look at Shannon was too painful. Daphne was a few years older than Shannon, and she, along with Melissa, had been really good friends before the cutbacks. They’d often had lunch together, talked about guys and dating and clothes. Before the economy tanked and the layoffs started, she’d invited them to the lunch exchange. Daphne had seemed interested. Now Shannon was the bad guy, the one responsible for everything that had gone wrong at the plant, including the shrinking client base. Shannon had stopped trying to fix what was broken relationship-wise, but she hadn’t given up hope that an influx of customers, the type of big clients they used to have, would change everything.
The interview wasn’t a guarantee of new business, neither was the Easter egg hunt or the banners or the cold calls or the personal meetings. But there was a chance that it could turn into something major. She was due, dammit, and yes, she understood that was magical thinking. Nevertheless, she would continue to hold on to good thoughts. Positive energy and action combined with a quality product and a track record to be proud of would prove that this was only a temporary downswing. Fitzgerald & Sons had too much history to lose now. She wouldn’t let that happen, not under her watch.
She put bodywash on her sponge, her senses filling with lilac and spice, and let all her troubling thoughts run down the drain. In a very short time she would open her door and her bed to the man she wanted more than anything else in the world.
For tonight, she was the luckiest person ever. She couldn’t wait until his arms were around her, until she could run her hands down his strong back, feel his breath on her neck, taste him and hear him gasp out her name.
Spurred on by excitement and the ache between her thighs, she rinsed quickly, dried off, brushed her teeth and grinned as she hurried back to her bedroom
She turned on the bedside light, but as a surprise, she’d bought a beautiful pink scarf that she draped over the shade. The room looked exotic and almost as sexy as she felt crawling naked between the sheets.
When he tapped on her door, she tugged down the top sheet so the first thing he saw was her hair spread out on the pillow and her very erect bared nipples. So much for skipping the sexy times.
14
NATE HAD GONE BACK TO HIS room at two that morning, still careful not to upset the applecart, especially today. He’d set his alarm for 5:45 a.m., and after his shower, he’d been glad of it.
Shannon would be down at six-thirty and he wanted her to have more than coffee for breakfast. He’d put on a pair
of jeans and a T-shirt and prepared to make the best damn pancakes in all of New York.
The light was already on in the kitchen, which meant Shannon hadn’t slept well. He didn’t care that his surprise was screwed up as much as the fact that she was starting the day out nervous. Only it wasn’t Shannon in the kitchen, but Mrs. Fitz.
“What are you doing up so early, boyo?”
He walked in to the scent of freshly brewed coffee and butter melting on a grill pan. “I came to make pancakes for the TV star.”
Mrs. Fitz grinned. “That was very nice of you.”
“And you,” he said, as he got his mug down from the cupboard.
“She’s so excited. She’d tried to get every station in New York to advertise the fundraiser, and no one’s ever taken notice. It’s a fine thing, her efforts paying off so well.”
“Yeah,” he said. “She works hard for the church. For everything she loves.”
Mrs. Fitz put a ladle’s worth of batter on the griddle, bringing vanilla and cinnamon into the delicious mix of aromas. “I know what Danny’s asked you to do.”
He stirred his coffee, then went to the table. “I wasn’t sure.”
“We’re in a terrible position,” she said. “We’ve done it to ourselves, and now we’re asking you to fix it. Shameful. I’d speak to her myself if I had the courage God gave a ten-year-old. She’s my little girl, and this situation is breaking my heart.”
“I understand,” Nate said. “But she’s got to know the truth. It’ll work out, I’m sure of it, but it’s not going to be easy for any of you. I can’t say I’m glad to help, but I’m the right person for the job.”
Mrs. Fitz, still in bathrobe and slippers, had poured out four cakes, and she was watching them for the first of the bubbles. Syrup, the real kind, was at the ready, and there were four place settings on the table. “It’s kind of you, Nate. We’ve all noticed how you two are thick as thieves. That’s good. That’s wonderful. You’re family, and she can use the company. She works too hard, that one. I hope…”
“What?”